FatherSpiritSon.com
“Gifts from God”!
I would venture to say that everyone on the face of the planet, created by God, has been given at least one special gift, talent, or blessing from Him. Some of us have been fortunate enough to receive a grand combination of several of these, and yet others seem to have many of these in more abundance still. (See V*1). It is a great honor to be privileged enough to not only be blessed in such an abundant manner, but furthermore be able and willing to use the gifts to give God well deserved glory. There are several key factors that need to be present, aside from having the gifts, talents, blessings, or resources needed to achieve something for God's glory. The foremost of these that comes to my mind is the individual's willingness to use his/her God given blessings to delight God. I feel that this is a very personal decision one needs to make, and should be done wholeheartedly or not done at all. It is an essential one as well, because remember God is not going to make the decision for you. As the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink it.” Although this is a highly simplified variation of what God does for us, as much as He may love us, want our companionship and relationship, and provide us opportunities to reach Him – He will never force someone to do so against their will.
We need to remember that God is not a fan of us being lukewarm, so when we make that decision to honor Him with the gifts he has given to us, we need to make sure that it is a firm, unwavering choice. (See V*2). A lot of times it is easy to make the mistake of being a fair-weathered friend, even I think in the eyes of God. Unfortunately, I think that a significant number of us may do this, and I think most of us who do this do so in light of circumstances that present themselves in our lives. I might argue, for example, that it is much easier to praise God and give Him his well deserved glory when things are going perfectly fluid in our lives. A true test of faith and character I think comes when things become more difficult and situational factors provide us with a strong, personalized set of challenges. In these cases, I think God truly sees that even through such seemingly daunting difficulties, we stay the course and give him all praise, honor, and glory. It is not always easy to do, in fact it almost never is. Many times God will be the only one who truly understands the obstacles, challenges, and adversities we face. It is undoubtedly a wise move to turn to His provision in such cases, and rest assured that He is still in control regardless of what may be going on.
Another important note is the fact that God is a God of second chances, third chances, and yes even fourth chances. (See V*3). Although He would forgive us time and time again, since our sinful nature may sometimes get the better of us in certain weak areas, it is always the ideal case to stand our ground and try to avoid the potential snare at hand. It is best for us to strategically comport ourselves in a way that does not set us up to fail. This might mean that we avoid the areas of great temptation for us, and sometimes it may even mean setting up accountability partnerships with others that have similar struggles and can relate to us. We owe it to God and to ourselves to use our wonderful minds and in some cases even our resources in order to promote doing right and maintaining right-standing with God in all our ways.
As I have mentioned time and time again in prior articles, God loves to provide us with a way of escape from sin, even if that means fleeing away from it. The Bible clearly tells us to flee youthful lusts and refrain from even the appearance of evil. We should all be aware that the Devil is not in the business of making evil an obvious problem. What I mean by that exactly is, he is the father of lies, and I am confident that he takes pleasure in deceiving the masses into his various schemes. Wherever your weaknesses are, whatever vices you may have, all the issues you need to deal with on a daily basis, I believe he is well aware of them all. This doesn't mean we need to be afraid, however, it does mean we need to be on guard on a continual basis, sober, and alert because if not he will attempt to lead us to sin.
For me, personally, pornography has been one of the chief vices that I have had trouble getting rid of. I can go “sober” from it for days, weeks, and occasionally even a month or more – but at some point I give in during a moment of weakness and fall into the snare. Compulsive gambling has also been an issue of my past, and is still a temptation to this day, but now if I ever play poker or do anything closely resembling gambling I tread with caution. For example, if I play poker online I will set strict limitations on how much I can deposit, and I try not to set myself up for failure. Neither of these issues are something I am proud of, on the contrary I want to conquer them both in the name of Jesus Christ and get rid of the strongholds once and for all.
As a society, I think at large we have a cultural misconception with what freedom is. Many of us, particularly us young adults, feel that freedom is doing whatever we want, whenever we want, with little if any regard for the authority, ethics, or even the legality involved (as long as we can get away with it). This view is flawed because true freedom, however counterintuitive it might sound for some of us, lies in having a loving, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and accomplishing His will in a variety of different avenues in our lives. True freedom is not being governed by our sinful nature, and giving in to the compulsions of the flesh. Whether it be premarital sex, pornography, lying, cheating, stealing, alcoholism, abuse, or any other pet sins we might have – we are constantly bombarded by all sorts of social media, cultural influences, and yes even friends and family that tell us over and over again how “okay” it is to get away with all sorts of sin. The truth of the matter is, it is infinitely better to analyze the potential sinful behaviors through the lense of God's word, instead of trying to appeal to our own needs/wants and what society tells us is normal.
Rarely do we confront our friends and tell them something that they are doing is wrong, surely many times we do not want to get deeply involved or maybe we are just afraid of offending them. I have a lot of friends that know where I stand on these sorts of matters, and they all know that I am far from perfect myself, but at the very least I try to improve in light of God's plan for me. It is much easier to give in and do anything and everything regardless of it's sinfulness, but we are absolutely made for more than that! God has created us to have the potential to freely serve Him, and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is no other alternative way to get to heaven, and we should be thankful that this one way is available to each and every one of us who are alive today. The minute after we pass away, that option is no longer available to us and our eternity will have been decided. God knows us, better than we even know ourselves, but we need to remember that we do not have the luxury of putting off a decision for Christ forever. If he is tugging on your heart today, or if you feel lost and need his supernatural guidance, blessing, and of course His salvation – do yourself a favor and don't let another day go by before you sincerely pray about this matter. Our souls and eternal life are absolutely at stake here, why risk another day without knowing Jesus Christ?
Now that we have touched generally about having spiritual gifts, then gravitated towards matters of avoiding sin strategically, and finally about securing our eternity through acceptance of Jesus Christ I think it is a great time to close this article with the following prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for your provision of gifts and talents in our lives and in the lives of those loved ones around us. We sincerely appreciate all that you have done for us, and we pray for your patience and understanding during those times that we have undoubtedly turned away from your will for us. Thank you for never turning away from us, and always being there for us in all situations. Please help us all to strategically avoid areas of weakness, and seek your help on a consistent basis when we feel tempted to give in. Please, also help us be sober and alert of ourselves and our surroundings and give us the strength and courage to stand firm in the face of evil. We also ask that you please help us make genuine, wise, and fruitful decisions in the course of our lives that glorify you and benefit us and our loved ones. We thank you that all sins, despite being detrimental, may be forgiven and overcome in the name of Jesus Christ. Finally, above all, we thank you for your son Jesus Christ's sacrifice and we pray for those that have yet to accept His ultimate gift – the gift of an eternal life in your divine presence. Please bless the readers of www.fatherspiritson.com and help them to continue to fight the good fight of faith dear Father. We pray all these things in Jesus Christ's precious, holy, and mighty name. Amen.
Hopefully, if nothing else, this article has planted a seed in you to use your gifts for God for the first time, or perhaps it has inspired you to continue doing so. Whatever your personal case may be, remember that Jim and I are constantly praying for the readers of this site on a frequent basis. We hope that you will share any prayer requests, questions, comments, or general concerns to our site email: [email protected]. Thank you all for taking time to read my article! God bless you.
-Victor Nunez
Biblical References:
V*1- Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God is active in everyone and everything. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial:
8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit,
to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit,
9 to another, faith by the same Spirit,
to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another, the performing of miracles,
to another, prophecy,
to another, distinguishing between spirits,
to another, different kinds of languages,
to another, interpretation of languages.
11 But one and the same Spirit is active in all these distributing to each one as He wills.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (HCSB)
V*2- So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, I'm rich; I have become wealthy, and need nothing, and you don't know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not to be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. 20 Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. 21 The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father in His throne.
22 “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Revelations 3:16-22 (HCSB)
V*3- Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how many times could my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus said to him, “but 70 times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22 (HCSB)
Additional Link:
http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Exhortations/a-e/DemolishingStrongholds.htm
(Solid resource page concerning the power of prayer in demolishing strongholds that I came across while writing this article and looking for specific scriptural references.)